Barangay Ginebra star Scottie Thompson has nailed countless clutch shots and game-winners in his storied basketball career.
However, his most memorable buzzer-beater came not in a high-stakes, all-important game but in a race- against-time drive from Pasig to Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa City.
Thompson was all smiles, recalling how he arrived just in time before his lovely wife, Jinky, gave birth to their child last 24 May.
“Well, good thing I made it just in time before they sent Jinky to the delivery room,” Thompson, now a father of three, said.
At that time, the hardworking former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Most Valuable Player was playing against pesky Blackwater in a slugfest of a match in the Philippine Cup elimination round at the Philsports Arena.
Thompson dished out the most important assist of the game to an open Japeth Aguilar, who bailed out Ginebra with the game-winning jumper in a dramatic 101-99 win.
The 31-year-old Thompson had to cut his celebration short, however, as he ran straight to the dugout to get his things and revved up his car to rush to the hospital.
“He literally was from there (basketball court), he left and went to his car,” Ginebra head coach Tim Cone said of his main gunner and playmaker.
The latest PBA 50 Greatest Players member already knew that his wife could go into labor anytime that day, but remained focused on his job.
“Actually, we expected it but I don’t really talk about it because I don’t want to get out of focus, especially the team,” he said.
“My wife also told me to just inform the team after the game.”
Thompson made it in time to give his ‘assist’ to Jinky in welcoming Storm Atticus, the couple’s third bundle of joy after Scot Alystair Schyler Austin.
“It’s another blessing for our family and an additional inspiration for me,” Thompson said.
Thompson also expressed gratitude to his better half.
“It’s teamwork taking care of our children and trying to be the best parents for them,” he said.
Also, as a true-blue Ginebra player, Thompson is clinging to the never-say-die mantra of his team to realize another dream — to have a daughter.
“It’s a boy again… so let’s try again next year,” he said, laughing.